Teddy Bear Tia

We were on the search for Halloween costumes this week, when we came across this little jewel! April gets to dress up at work for Halloween and could possibly win a prize for best costume. What better costume for a baker that passes out cookies to kids than Winnie the Pooh! Even though April looks ADORABLE in this costume, she decided it would be too hot to work in. Joey really liked his tia dressed up like a big ol' teddy bear, though!

Wowzer!

Joey has discovered the high-pitched tone in his voice. He sounds like a screech owl when he is trying to communicate!

Joey also peed all over himself while I was trying to change his diaper. This happens probably 2-3 times a week because mama is slow at changing that booty! He managed to even pee in his mouth!! YUCK! I get him all washed up and am leaving someone a voicemail when I notice a pool of pee in Joey's ear!! OMG! Poor guy! I need to pick it up with the diaper changing speed, huh?

And, Joey's hair is growing like crazy!! His head is so fuzzy now!

Then, Joey sat up on his own this week!!! He was a little shaky when he first started sitting up, but by the end of the night, he was a sitting champ!

Booty Business

So...we have converted. We are now using cloth diapers. The idea of using cloth was something I had been tossing around since I was pregnant. However, we thought that cloth would be too hard, too costly, and too much work. We have been proven wrong on all three accounts!

Since a lot of the mamas I know cloth diaper, I have had tons of people to get advice and tips from! One of the moms is even writing a book about cloth! Another mama owns a cloth diaper store right here in Anchorage! I have been pestering every cloth diapering mom around with 1,000 questions on each of our hikes since August! Now, if you haven't done any research on cloth diapers, then you may not know this, but it's not as simple as buying disposable. There are so many different types, styles, prices, brands, etc. of cloth diapers...it's actually kinda overwhelming. All-In-One, Pocket, One-Size, Pre-folds?!?!?! I was so confused and didn't know where to start! So, I checked bought a sample pack and tried them out.

My sample pack actually contained three different brands of All-In-One (AIO) diapers. The nice thing about these diapers is that they grow with your baby. They cost a little bit up front (these were all around the $19/diaper mark), but newborns all the way up to two-year olds can wear these!

This is the BumWear AIO. We hate this diaper. It leaks and is not very absorbent. One of the perks of cloth is that they usually can last a lot longer than disposable diapers. Not this diaper. This one leaks quicker than you can blink an eye!

This is our FuzziBunz. This was is pretty good...it just took us a little while to figure out how to adjust the size on it! There is actually elastic in the legs and waist that expands to fit your growing babe!

This is the BumGenius. This is our favorite AIO, so far. With all of these diapers, we put a couple of extra inserts in at night, and Joey can usually go 12 hours without having to have a diaper change!! Woohoo!! (The outside of the AIOs are made with special fabric that wicks the moisture away from the baby. The inserts absorb the moisture).

After trying a few of the AIO's, which are the closest thing to disposables, we tried some pre-folds. Do you know that these "old school" diapers are actually our favorite?!!? How crazy is that? We like to fold the pre-fold into threes and lay it in a cover. You can also wrap the pre-fold like a diaper and use a thing called a snappy (or safety pins) to secure the cloth. Then, use a cover to help keep the moisture in.

We got some pretty cute covers, too! Joey is modeling his froggy cover!

And here with his polka dots! We have slowly been building our cloth collection since we were trying out different diapers. Now, that we know what we like, we are waiting for our order of pre-folds to come in. Oh, and I did purchase a cow print diaper so Joey can remember his N.C. State roots! Go pack!

Imagine

I am trying to get involved with another mom group right now, but you have to meet the group organizer before you are invited to join their group. This is to make sure that you are not some wacko that wants to hurt children. I think this is awesome. Anyways, I met these moms at the Imaginarium. This is the place I worked last summer before I got pregnant. The Imaginarium was bought out by the Anchorage Museum, so it relocated and was completely renovated. I had not seen the new Imaginarium yet, so I was extra excited to go to this meetup!

They still had a lot of their old animals, but they also had some new additions. These moon jellies were pretty cool! Joey liked looking at these guys.

This was a tsunami simulator. I was trying to get Joey to help me pull the rope, but he was more fixated on trying to suck on the rope!

Of course, they still had some of the old favorite exhibits, like the bubbles, of the old Imaginarium!

I'm not rushing Joey to get older, but I am excited about him getting more mature and developed so he can enjoy these things as much as I do!

Oh, and the mom meeting went great! I really liked them and they seemed to like me! They even invited me to join their group that day! :) I am cool!! Hahaha!

Livin' the High Life

This past Thursday, my mom group hiked...no, wait, scratch that. We climbed a mountain. With babies strapped to us. That's right, we took it up a notch. This was a hike I did way before I was pregnant. I hated it then, and I hate it now. The views are absolutely amazing, but the whole climbing a mountain part sucked.

However, I was super proud of myself for making it to the ridge line. A few of our mamas had to turn around due to baby mutiny. Luckily, Joey was having a good day and slept the whole way up the mountain! :)

It was quite chilly! Our temps are now in the 20's at night and 30's and 40's during the day. Joey and I both had to step it up a bit in the clothing department. We bought the polypro long underwear Joey is modeling in the photo above from one of the super outdoor moms in the group for an incredible deal! This was Joey's base layer.

Then we put Joey in a fleece bunting suit (another purchase from the super outdoor mom)! We also bought some big snow boots that Joey wore over his fleece suit! In addition to all of these layers, he was cuddled up next to me in his carrier. He seemed nice and toasty!

As much as I hated hiking up this mountain, I was so glad I did it! Our fall weather is amazing right now, and I am trying to take every opportunity to enjoy it right now. We should be leaving Alaska around this time next year, so I don't want to miss one chance to get outside and relish in the amazing beauty this state has to offer! My only wish is that Joey could remember all of the things he's getting to do right now. I know he'll have this blog and all of our photos and our stories, but it's not the same. He is one lucky baby to get to see and do things that most people don't even get to do in their lifetimes.


P.S.- Yes, that is snow I'm standing in and we saw a coyote on our hike!

Woof, Woof

A lot of people have asked "How do the dogs get along with Joey?" Well, initially, I think they didn't know what to think. Then I think we dealt with some jealousy. Freedom started to pee on the floor and get into the trash. However, Freedom was not peeing on the carpet while we were there so the vet thought it may be an infection. The vet was right and we felt like total buttheads for punishing Freedom all that time! Ooops.

Now that Joey is a little older and way more active, I think Freedom LOVES Joey. I think she had already started to like him when she smelled his stinky diapers, but now Joey gets so excited when the pups walk near him!

He puts his arms out and "talks" to the dogs.

Freedom would lick Joey for hours if we would let her!

Bracken could really care less about Joey. Bracken just wants April, Michael, or me to pet him...not Joey. We don't let Bracken lick Joey because Bracken eats dog poo. Ewww!

We also think that Freedom is starting to get protective over Joey...even to Bracken. Joey was doing tummy time and Bracken was about to step over Joey to get to me. Freedom jumped up, stepped in front of Bracken, and snapped at him. Then, Freedom went and laid down near Joey! How crazy is that?! Someone also told me that the dogs will love Joey once he really starts eating solids. (Joey will most likely drop stuff all over the floor and our living vacuum cleaners will be in love!)

Ice Ice Baby

This past Sunday, Michael, Joey, and myself did our annual fall hike with our friend, Amy. We went to Byron Glacier, down by Portage, Alaska.

This was a super easy hike to a pretty awesome glacier!

We had a really crappy summer, but our fall has been perfect!

My mom hiking group tried to do this hike a couple of weeks ago, but the weather was horrible! I'm really glad that we went to this glacier again, and had perfect weather. It was absolutely beautiful!

My boys!

Joey's first time touching a glacier! How "cool" is that?!?! :)

Daddy and Joey

Joey getting some lovin'! As one person wrote on Amy's Facebook page, "Joey-a hiker for life"! Haha! We may have to show Joey this photo when he's being a typical teenager and wanting to play video games all day! "Joey, look at all of the girly attention you can get when you hike!" That's when Joey would point out that one of the girls was his mother! Haha!